Mark Dever correctly describes explanatory preaching as “preaching that takes, at the point of a sermon, the point of a particular passage of Scripture. “
However, I listened (and predicted!) Sermons that are supposed to be explanatory, but that are of somewhat inferior. Here are twelve traps: five that do not make the message of the sermon the message of a passage and therefore abuse the text; five that do not connect the text to the congregation; and two who do not recognize that preaching is ultimately God’s work.
- None of these observations are original.
- I learned a lot at Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge in the mid-1990s.
- And learned other things along the way.
- Since I wrote a similar article a few years ago.
- I’ve included some suggestions that people have made to add.
- I’m sure you can think of others.
Impostors who don’t see the text
1) The “unfounded sermon”: the text is misunderstood
2) The “Trampoline Sermon”: the point of the text is ignored
3) The “Doctrinal Sermon”: the richness of the text is ignored
4) The “Short Sermon”: the biblical text is only mentioned
5) The “Sermon Without Christ”: the sermon interrupted without the Savior
Imposters who don’t see the congregation
6) The “Exegetic Sermon”: the text does not apply
7) The “Irrelevant Sermon”: the text applies to another congregation
8) The “Private Sermon”: the text applies only to the preacher
9) The “Hypocritical Sermon”: the text applies to everyone but the preacher
10) The “Misfit Sermon”: the point of way applies poorly to the current congregation
Impostors who don’t see the Lord
11) The “Sermon Without Passion”: the point of passage is pronounced, it is not preached
12) The “Impotent Sermon”: the point of passage is preached without prayer.
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Read the full article and find out more about the danger behind each of these twelve points.